Evaluating Your Remainder Buying: Insights From BEA

At a Wednesday, May 29, Bookselling Today & ABA Education session at BookExpo America, Gayle Shanks, co-owner of Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona, and Mary Magers, owner of Magers & Quinn Booksellers in Minneapolis, Minnesota, shared best practices for remainder buying.

Changing Hands opened in 1974 and started selling remainders about 10 years later. Remainders now comprise 15 percent of the store’s total sales, Shanks said, adding that Changing Hands is dedicated to providing great books and great customer service, introducing customers to new authors, and including an inventory that appeals to a wide range of people.

Remainders help the store meet “many aspects of that philosophy in terms of great books at great prices in a great atmosphere that keeps readers reading longer,” Shanks said.

Nineteen-year-old Magers & Quinn began as a used book store that also offered rare books and collectibles. There was originally a Borders across the street, which controlled the new book market, Magers said. Today, her bookstore features a small percentage of new books and remainders represent about 50 percent of the inventory.

“Being able to provide books at a lower cost has really made a difference for us,” said Magers. “We saw our best year in 2008, when the economy started to decline. I can only assume part of that –– combined with Shop Local efforts –– is from having books that are competitively priced.”

Shanks told session attendees that bargain book shows such as the Great American Bargain Book Show (GABBS) and the Chicago International Remainder and Overstock Book Expo (CIROBE) are great places to buy. These shows are not like BEA in that they are entirely focused on buying, she said.

Before leaving on a buying trip, Shanks explained, she always walks through Changing Hands, talks to the bookseller who puts out remainders, and brings a list of sections that need inventory. Bringing the store’s frontlist buyer to the shows will significantly speed up the process, she added, since they  know what is currently selling well at the store and can quickly identify like titles.

Importantly, both Shanks and Magers stressed that remainders are not like new books in that there are a finite number, so it is important to act on buying decisions quickly while keeping in mind that these are nonreturnable purchases. Because of the need to act quickly, neither Shanks nor Magers adheres to a set budget. “If you see something you just know that you’ll be able to sell, you have to jump on it and budget be damned,” said Shanks.

Magers said that she takes a lot of chances in buying. Though she sometimes checks her store’s inventory from a computer if she has one on hand, she often makes decisions based on memory. Many times she will find a remaindered title at a show that is still selling well as new. Magers then estimates how many more she can sell. “There aren’t returns, and that’s the gamble,” she said.

Remainders have also enabled Magers to determine if there’s an audience for titles that the store might not have bought new. If a title sells well as a remainder, Magers assesses whether she should order the title as new.

Another way to buy remainders, said Shanks, is to establish relationships with vendors and ask them to send their lists of available titles. Sometimes the lists are daunting, she added, but an Excel file allows for searching by category, pub date, author, and publisher. The titles on those lists also sell quickly, Shanks warned, so acting fast is necessary.

Shanks advised against buying assortments as they do not allow for curation and often leave stores with an overabundance of titles that do not sell.

Coming from the discount side of the business, Magers said that she does purchase assortments. “It’s not for everybody,” she warned, but her store has developed a system, often asking publishers for a manifest to see where the books are coming from and factoring a percentage of the books will not sell into the cost.

Buying from remainder dealers’ warehouses in various parts of the country is another way that Changing Hands and Magers & Quinn add to their inventories. Shanks and Magers said they will typically buy at least three pallets of books on a warehouse visit. Booksellers are able to buy a very large quantity of books for even less than what is offered at the trade shows, and vendors are helpful, since they are hoping to sell titles quickly. You can also negotiate at warehouses, said Shanks, which becomes easier to do after establishing a relationship with the vendors. “I have yet to have somebody say ‘no,’” she said. Another helpful tip is to call the warehouse ahead of time to make sure another large buyer hasn’t been there recently.

At both Changing Hands and Magers & Quinn, the remainders are shelved alongside new books. At Changing Hands, the books bear a “sale” sticker on the cover to make it clear to customers that they are getting a deal. At Magers & Quinn, the store’s price is listed below the publisher price for the same reason.

“We’re trying to teach our market that they don’t have to go to Amazon to get books at really great prices,” said Shanks. “We flavor our store with remainders.”